IRVINE, Calif. – The foreclosure inventory in Rhode Island rose 0.2 percentage points year over year in December to 2.9 percent, CoreLogic reported Friday. This means that 2.9 percent of all homes with a mortgage in Rhode Island were in one aspect of the foreclosure process.

From January 2012 to December 2012, there were 1,802 completed foreclosures in the Ocean State. The number of mortgages per completed foreclosure was 72, the real estate data tracking firm reported.

Completed foreclosures are considered an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure.

Comparatively, the foreclosure inventory in Massachusetts dropped 0.1 percentage points year over year in December to 1.9 percent.

For the 12 months ended December 2012, 6,534 foreclosures were completed in the Bay State. There were 131 mortgages per completed foreclosure during that period.

Roughly 1.2 million homes, or 2.9 percent of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of December 2012. This is a decline of 19.5 percent from the 1.5 million reported in December 2011.

Nationally, there were 56,000 completed foreclosures in December, a decrease of 21 percent from the 71,000 reported in December 2011.

“The rate of foreclosures continues to trend down, albeit at a slower rate as we exit 2012,” Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement. “This trend should continue into 2013 and is another positive signal that the gradual healing process in the housing market is gaining traction.”

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